When the Gold Rolled

Prologue

On this date l52 years ago, itinerant carpenter James Wilson Marshall
bent over and picked up a bright piece of metal
the size and shape of a tiny pea. At that
moment, there was no vineyard in the Sierra Foothills.
But a few years later there would be over 200,000
vines producing wine for the thirsty miners.

The Rest of the Story

Marshal's helper Mormon miner Henry Bigler wrote in his diary on
Jan. 24, 1848, "This day some mettle was found that looks like
goald." That little piece of gold caused 1% of the U.S.A.'s
population to crowd into a few counties east of Sacramento.
They were joined by a swarm of Australians, South Americans
and Europeans. The Golden State's wine production in 1848
was the equivalent of some 20,000 cases. By 1859 it
would exceed 200,000 cases. The Sierra Foothills
would have more wineries than Napa and Sonoma
counties combined. What was planted?

The hot-button grape was Zinfandel. and it was
not a brief romance. By 1910, it produced
ninety percent of California wine.
Furthermore, it is the State's leading red wine
even as we speak. My last figures from Gladys
Horiuchi of California's Wine Institute show
an annual crush of 339,000 tons of Zinfandel compared
to the distant second place of 226,000 tons
of Cabernet Sauvignon.

In view of all of this, our Wine of the Day must
be a Zinfandel from the Sierra Foothills, where
appropriately not only was much of the FIRST
Zinfandel made, but today much of the BEST
Zinfandel is made.

Wine of the Day

1997 Vintners Selection Zinfandel
Sobon Family Vineyards, Amador County, Sierra Foothills
Winemaker—Lee Sobon, (pictured), who used French oak on this Zin
History—The Sobon family a few years ago bought
the D'Agostini Winery, and gave me a bottle to
serve in one of my wine history courses. Its
importance? Many historians say it was on
the D'Agostini property where the FIRST winery
operated after the start of the Gold Rush!
Rating of This Zin—That French oak DID it. My
14 tasters gave it an EXCELLENT!
Contact—Shirley Sobon, (209) 245-4455, FAX (209) 245-5156
Price—Fine value. $12 range. (Out of the last 30 wines under
$15 we've tasted, this is the only one rated EXCELLENT.)

Postscript

If you are interested in the present wines and
the past glamour of the Sierra Foothills, subscribe
to Vine Times published quarterly by Jolene
Teresi, phone/fax (916) 988-8451. For more
about the publication, see the WineDay Annex
titled, " Wine and Words, A Love Affair".

About the
Writer

Fred McMillin, a veteran wine writer, has taught wine history
for 30 years on three continents. He currently teaches wine
courses at San Francisco State and San Francisco City College.
In 1995, the Academy of Wine Communications honored Fred
with one of only 22 Certificates of Commendation awarded
to American wine writers.